Wolf Bite (Wolf Cove #2) (13 page)

“And yet I did.”

“But he didn’t do anything wrong!”

“You let him fuck you!” All calm composure is gone as
Henry’s booming voice fills the cabin and his face contorts with rage.

Is he kidding me?
“You were off screwing
two
other
women!” I know I sound hysterical now but I don’t care. The tears have begun to
slip unbidden again. I don’t think I cried this much even after Jed hurt me.

Henry dips his head away from me, studying the hardwood
floor, trying to calm himself, I presume. When he finally looks up again, I see
something floating in his gaze that I can’t read.

But that steely face that I now see, I know well. “You’re
right,” he says in that overly calm, cool voice. “I did fuck two women. Right
over there.” He nods toward the living room, where dirty drink glasses litter
the coffee table and the cushions are all out of sorts. Housekeeping hasn’t
been in to clean up because Henry doesn’t allow housekeeping in here. “I sat in
that chair with a scotch and watched the two of them tongue fuck each other,
and then I took turns shoving my cock into first one, then the other.” Each new
detail is like a needle-sharp blade poking at my already aching heart. I don’t
need to hear the specifics. It only brings it to life in my head. “It was nice,
you know, being with two women who knew what they were doing.”

I recoil at the well-timed insult. Now he’s
trying
to
hurt me.

But Henry doesn’t let up, his face twisting with a vicious
smirk. “Don’t you dare play the wounded fawn, Abbi. You do play it so well,
don’t you? But you didn’t waste any time spreading your legs for another guy.”

How did he turn this into
my
fault? “You can’t fire
Michael.”

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong. I can do whatever I want.”
He examines the cuff of his dress shirt and, noting the spots of blood on the
crisp white material, he begins unbuttoning this shirt.

“No you can’t,” I hear myself say, taking a step back, away
from him. “You
can’t
just do whatever you want.”

“I will own 61 percent of Wolf Hotels by Tuesday, so you are
very wrong about that.”

“Does your father know about us?” It’s a simple, innocent
question.

And yet the flare in Henry’s eyes tells me he sees the
underlying threat immediately. Of course he does. A good predator is always
five steps ahead of their prey.

I clear my throat, trying to sound more confident, even
through the tears and the shakiness. “I’m guessing he asked and you convinced
him that nothing happened between us. You lied right to his face.”

He’s lost interest in his soiled shirt, turning to face me
head-on. “What are you trying to get at, Abbi?”

I won’t let him punish Michael. “That you need to give
Michael his job back.”
Or else.

I don’t need to say it out loud. By the tightness in his
jaw, he gets it. “Are you threatening me?” He takes a step forward.

I take three back, suddenly wondering exactly how bad an
idea this was. “I’m trying to make sure you do what’s right.”

“And let me guess, letting you stay at Wolf Cove and work
wherever you want is also the right thing to do?”

Yes.

“And if I don’t give you what you want, you’re going to tell
my father that I fucked you, after I swore up and down that I didn’t?”

I swallow my wariness.

He peels his dress shirt off, tossing it to the chair, his
casual persona back. “That sounds an awful lot like blackmail, Abbi. Did you
not just learn anything from the situation with Kiera? Did you not learn about
how I deal with these kinds of situations?”

That he doesn’t go down without a fight.

And here I am, threatening the one thing he wants more than
anything: Wolf Hotels.

What the hell was I thinking?

Suddenly, the thought of staying at Wolf Cove no longer
appeals to me. I’d rather deal with Mama and Jed than what Henry will do to me.
It really is the devil you know versus the devil you don’t situation, and I
suspect making an enemy of Henry would be the worst decision of my life. “I’ll
hand in my things to Belinda and be on the next ferry out today.” I turn to
leave.

“You’re not leaving Alaska.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. “You said I had to stay and work for
you, or quit and go back to Greenbank. So, I quit. Have a great life, Henry.” I
wish my voice wouldn’t waver so much.

“That was then.” He steps right through the spilled scotch,
tracking the liquid toward me, stopping maybe a foot away, his towering body
looming over me. “You know, Kiera was going to drop the charges and the
lawsuit. I knew that, even before I knew what Scott had done. I knew she would
make the right decision because the PI was going to show her the video I had of
her spread-eagle on a table. The one I’ve been keeping, just in case.”

My mouth drops open.

“The camera never gets a good view of my face but Kiera...
well, her family, her husband, anyone who clicked on that link after we leaked
it over the Internet would get a good view of
all
of her. And I promised
her that I’d make sure everyone she knew would see it. I’d say she made the
right choice with backing off, don’t you?”

My heart is hammering in my chest.

“To be fair, she had no idea that a video like that exists.
Had she, I’m sure Scott wouldn’t have been able to manipulate her into all of
this in the first place.” His eyes drop to my mouth. “Most women would think
twice before blackmailing a man if they knew he had something as revealing as
that on them. Wouldn’t you think so?”

Prickles run down my back. What is Henry saying, exactly?

Has he videotaped
us
having sex?

My eyes skate around the cabin’s rafters, looking for
evidence of a camera. It could be anywhere.

As if my mind and heart haven’t been reeling enough over the
past few days, he’s sending me into a new tailspin. Who is this man? Not that I
ever mistook Henry for an angel, with his dirty mouth and brash style, but he’s
telling me that he videotapes himself having sex with women, without their
knowledge?

How could I have been so wrong about him? How could he be the
Henry I fell for—gave myself willingly to—only to then so quickly morph to
this
?
Was he always
this
, and I was just too blind to see it? I can’t keep the
tears from trickling out my eyes. “Please don’t do this.”

His mouth opens but he hesitates, squeezes his eyes shut. The
chiseled lines of his jaw clench as he hardens his face. “You can go now, but
don’t even think about getting on that ferry. Be here at 7:00 a.m. sharp
tomorrow morning.”

I rush out the door.

~ ~ ~

“Abbi, aren’t you going to grab dinner?”

“No. I have a terrible headache that I’m trying to
overcome,” I lie to Katie, pulling my covers to my neck. Here, curled in a ball
within my hidden cocoon of a bunk, curtain drawn, I feel safe. If I go out
there, people may ask questions.

Does Katie know that I slept with Michael last night?

Does she know that Henry fired Michael because of me?

She hasn’t said a word to me about Michael, but I figure the
gossip must be running rampant.

I almost went to Michael’s cabin. Henry said Michael was
already on the ferry but I hoped he was wrong. I wanted to talk to him, to
apologize to him. But then I started to worry that he’d somehow figure out why
he was fired, and then one thing would lead to another and the whole town of
Greenbank would get to see me having sex on some video that Henry leaked
because I was stupid enough to try and blackmail him. So I ran straight here.

I don’t even have Michael’s number to text him and see where
he is, how he’s doing.

“Do you want me to bring you back something?”

“No. I’m okay, thanks.” I won’t be eating tonight. I won’t
be sleeping either.

I’ll be too busy dreading the rest of my summer in Alaska.

Chapter Fifteen

The sight of Penthouse Cabin One sparked a wild
thrill in my body before.

Now, the moment I round the bend in the covered path to see
it, my stomach flips with unease.

A housekeeping cart sits outside of the main door. I guess
Henry called them to clean up all the broken glass and booze. Good, because I’m
not doing it. I don’t want to be here. I dragged my feet all the way from my
cabin after a night of tossing and turning.

I hate him
, I tell myself over and over again. Because
if I can be angry, and hate him, then it distracts me from how hurt I am, I’m
learning.

Taking a deep breath, I swipe my key card and enter through
the service entrance.

“Hello?”

“Yes?” Bell dumps a dustpan full of glass into the bucket
before looking up to see me.

It’s strange to see another staff member in here, even if I
know her. I’ve been the only one to step foot inside since I started working
for him, besides that one visit from Belinda and then Michael, of course. “Oh,
hey.” I do a quick glance around. “Do you know when Mr. Wolf will be back?” Maybe
I’ll luck out and only have to deal with him through abrupt text messaging.

“No idea. They just told me to clean the place out and get
it ready for rental.”

Rental?

That’s when I notice that his laptop isn’t on the desk
anymore. And the checkered jacket he wore to cut wood isn’t hanging on the
hook.

And his hiking boots aren’t sitting on the doormat.

In fact, all of his personal possessions seem to be gone.

A strange sinking feeling hits my stomach as I wander into
the bedroom.

The bed’s been stripped and remade. And the closet is empty
of all his designer suits and casual clothes.

Henry’s gone.

I wander out the door with an absent “Thanks,” to Bell, and
pull out my phone to see if maybe Henry texted me and I somehow missed it.

Nothing.

Not a single message from Henry.

What the hell?
What does this mean for my job?

~ ~ ~

“Hey.”

Belinda peers up over her glasses at me. “Good, you’re here.
I’ll need your iPad and your work cell phone now.” Her tone is clipped and
businesslike. She’s back to her normal, overly calm persona.

My stomach sinks.
So that’s it? I’ve been, what, fired?

“You can change in your cabin, or in the restroom near the
cleaners, up to you, but you better hurry.” She glances at her watch. “The crew
will be starting their shift soon. I’m sorry I don’t have a proper uniform for
you here yet, but Mr. Wolf didn’t exactly give me much time to prepare.”

I frown. “The crew?”

“Yes. The Outdoor crew. That you asked to be reassigned to
now that Mr. Wolf has to go back to New York.” She’s speaking to me slow and
loud, as if I’m hard of hearing.

Henry has gone back to New York?

Clearly Belinda thinks I was aware this was all happening.
Why shouldn’t she? That would be the normal thing to do: tell your assistant
that she won’t be needed anymore and that she’s been reassigned.

But Henry didn’t tell me that. Instead, he demanded that I
stay and used the threat of a pornographic video to keep me from getting on a ferry
and going home. Why put me through all that anxiety if he planned on leaving
and letting me transfer out anyway?

Other than to toy with me.

To punish me.

To exert his power and control over me.

Maybe he’s still screwing with my head now. Giving me what I
asked for, only so he can take it away.

My stomach twists with hurt and anger.

“You’re going to be reporting to Darryl Sykes, and you’ll be
working on a team with twelve guys.
Twelve guys,
Abbi.
You’re the
only female. You’ll be expected to carry your own weight around there, but Mr.
Wolf seems to think you’ll manage.” Belinda’s lifts her brow knowingly. “For
the record, I think you’re insane for wanting to work in the crew. You and them,”
she shakes her head to herself. “Let’s just say I hope you’ve developed a thick
skin. And if you haven’t... just come and tell me and we can move you to Housekeeping,
okay?”

“Okay.” There was a time, just weeks ago, when she wasn’t
being anywhere near as accommodating, but I guess she was stuck playing
whatever game Henry was leading.

She holds her hands out, waiting for the electronics still
within my grasp.

I hand them over to her absently, still in shock over this unexpected
turn of events.

“Mr. Wolf asked that I remind you of the confidentiality
agreement that you signed. I’ve forwarded a scanned copy of it to your e-mail
address for your records. You should review it.”

I pull my personal phone out
and see the notification from her sitting on my screen. I click on it and the
attachment opens up. There’s my signature at the bottom of the attachment. The
day I signed this, I had no idea what kinds of secrets I’d be keeping. This is
clearly his way of reminding me that nothing has changed.

“I didn’t mean review it right now!” She glances at her
watch irritably. “You should really get going. Darryl will be in shortly. He’ll
be waiting for you at the gates, and he doesn’t like to wait.”

I spin on my heels, ready to make a mad dash for the cleaners,
where I can pick up whatever scraped-together uniform they managed to find for
me.

But first....

It’s the last thing I want to do right now, and yet I’m
compelled to get answers so I don’t spend the entire day in my head, concocting
scenarios, none of them with happy endings for me.

I step into the stairwell where I can gain more privacy than
out in the hotel hallways. Pulling out my personal phone, I find where I
programmed his number—something I did the first day I started with him, for no
other reason than because I wanted Henry Wolf’s phone number on my personal
phone—and I hit Call.

And I h
old my breath.

He’s not going to answer. Why
would he answer? He’s probably already on a—

“Wolf.”

My heart stutters.

“Make it quick, Abbi. My
plane is about to leave.”

How does he know it’s me
calling? Does it show in the display? “I was just.... You’re leaving.”

“Is there a question?”

“Why are you leaving?”

“Because I have a hotel chain
to run. I can’t do that from the wilderness.”

“But you said you were
staying for the summer.”

“Things changed.” I can’t
help but hear the sharp edge in his already abrupt tone.

“I’m on my way to work with
the Outdoor crew.”

“Good. You got what you wanted.”

“What I
wanted
?” What
I wanted was for Henry
not
to break my heart by sleeping with another
woman. I want to not feel like my insides have been torn out of my body,
leaving this hollow ache behind.

He sighs. “You’re young and
inexperienced and naive, Abbi. I knew better. I was just so overcome by stress,
and you were there. And
so
easy.”

“Fuck you.” I can’t believe
those two words slip out my mouth. I don’t think I’ve ever actually said them
to anyone, not even Jed. But what’s more, I can’t believe the real, raw anger
that laces them.

“Take care of yourself and
enjoy Alaska, Abbi. Go and fuck a few more people. I know I will.” The line
goes dead.

A sob tears out of my throat,
and only then do I realize that I’m actually crying. God, I hate to admit it
but Mama was right. I’ve seen Henry’s teeth now, and he delivers one painful
bite. A one-minute phone call with Henry and I’m bawling in a stairwell.

Furiously wiping away my
tears, I rush down the stairs to change my uniform.

For the first time truly
aware that, for all its vast, rich wilderness, Alaska feels completely empty.